


Cut Me Loose

by Black_Eyed_Angels



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:43:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23926345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Eyed_Angels/pseuds/Black_Eyed_Angels
Summary: You become next door neighbours with Leon Kennedy, who you know from high school. You go to Raccoon City together and your lives are changed forever. (I don't know how to write summaries, I'm sorry)This fic goes through the events of Resident Evil 2 and continues after. Some timeline stuff will be different and it's set in modern times, so not entirely canon.
Relationships: Leon S. Kennedy/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything really, for about 6 years. So I have been really nervous about this, but I had an idea for a story and here we are! I hope you enjoy.

You pull into the driveway of your new home. It still feels surreal. You’ve moved out at last and now you have a place to call your own. You get out the car and head the front door, your new keys jangling in your hand. You insert the key into the lock and let yourself in. You are hit with that typical new house smell of wood and paint. You take a stroll around the house, peeking into each room. Sure it isn’t anything special. It’s small and in a cheap neighbourhood, but you never expected to be able to afford rent for anything better than this.

You head back outside to the trailer on the back of your car. It contains a mattress and other smaller pieces of furniture to get you started. You look between the mattress and the house and let out a sigh before taking hold of the side closest to you, and carefully lowering it from the trailer to the ground. As you attempt to pull out the rest of the mattress, it bends oddly and starts to fall to its side.  
“Do you need some help?”  
You turn to the source of the voice. A young man approaches from the house next door. You realize that you recognize him… is that-  
“Leon?”  
“(Y/N), it is you! I was you from a distance and wasn’t sure.” The young man grins and comes closer. “I’ll take this end and back up into the house, and you can guide the other end?”  
“Sounds like a plan.” You nod. Together, you carry the mattress through the front door and slide it through the hallway to the bedroom. “We’ll just put it on the floor; I don’t have the bed frame yet.”  
“No problem.” The man replies, carefully lowering the mattress, his dark blond hair obscuring his face as he leans forward. He straightens up again and gives you a smile. “So, I haven’t seen you since high school! What have you been up to?”  
You laugh awkwardly. “Not a lot til recently. I just got a job as a veterinary nurse not far from here. How about you?”  
“I just graduated from police academy.” Leon gives a modest smile. “I’ll be starting at the Raccoon City Police Department in a couple weeks.”  
“That’s awesome! Congratulations!” You grin.  
“Thanks.” Leon smiles sheepishly, his hands in his jacket pockets. “Would you like me to help with the rest of your stuff?”  
“That would be great, thanks!”

You and Leon bring in the rest of the furniture from your trailer. You think about when you and Leon were at school. He was only in a couple of your classes, and you wouldn’t have called yourselves friends, more like people who talked sometimes. You had your own friend groups, but you always thought he was nice. 

“Thank you so much. My dad was going to help me move, but he isn’t free til Saturday, so I’ve just brought the necessities for now.”  
“No problem! I guess I’ll leave you to get settled in. It’s good to see you.” Leon smiles and shows himself out.

-

You spend the next couple of hours arranging the smaller items you brought with you, putting pots and pans in the kitchen cupboards, sorting through cutlery and crockery. When you look about the small house, you can’t help but think about how you can’t wait to give it more of a personal touch. But for now you just have your essential items. The rest of your things would require another trip or two. As you look around some more, you notice through the side window in the living room, that the fence between your yard and Leon’s is fairly low. Your first quick thought is about building companies seeming to cut costs at every turn these days, but then your thoughts go in a different direction. You’ll have to be careful about how you present yourself in this end of the house, and definitely keep the blinds drawn at night to avoid any potential embarrassment.

-

After sorting through your belongings, you head to the store to stock up on groceries. You’re tempted to just get take-out for your first night in your new home, but convince yourself it’d be more satisfying to have a home cooked meal on your first night. The drive to the store only takes about five minutes, which is something you found appealing about the house when you were looking to buy.

You spend some time in the store trying to think of what you’ll make for dinner for the next week, while also aiming to buy mostly special items. Your job at the veterinary clinic is fairly new, thus you are a low level employee, but you’ve gotta start from the bottom, right? After you are satisfied with your choices, you take your groceries out to your car, pack them and head home.

You make a quick and simple dinner and sit at the small table you managed to fit in your trailer earlier. You sit quietly, taking in the sounds of the surrounding streets with each mouthful. Cars driving past, neighbours talking from the street and their yards, sirens, the dull beat of a neighbour’s music; you hope that doesn’t happen every night. When you finish your dinner, you take the plate to the kitchen and absent-mindedly look out the window. You see Leon sitting on his couch in front of his TV, looking bored. You sigh. This will take some getting used to… it’s like living in a fishbowl. Hoping he won’t turn and see you through your window, you draw the blinds.

-

The next morning you go to the veterinary clinic for your first official day of work. As expected, there’s a lot of running through procedures and a tour of the clinic. As expected since you were new, you spend the rest of the day doing the more unpleasant tasks of cleaning up after the animals, disposing of garbage, cleaning up feces, urine and vomit, and a whole lot of disinfecting. You knew the job wouldn’t be glamorous, especially in the beginning. You’re doing the same things you did in your animal care course, so you are somewhat prepared for the variety of smells you will encounter.

You finish up for the day and say goodbye to everyone before heading home. You pull up in your driveway, thinking about how you can’t wait to have a shower, when you see Leon taking out the trash. He spots you and smiles.  
“It was your first day today right?” he asks, walking towards you.  
“It was, but I wouldn’t get too close if I were you. If you knew what I’ve been cleaning up today, you’d understand.” You grimace.  
Leon throws his hands up and steps back with a laugh. “I think I can imagine.”  
“Sorry,” you smile apologetically. “I kinda can’t wait to get cleaned up.”  
“No problem, see you around.” Leon smiles and heads back to his yard.  
Feeling a bit embarrassed about that awkward interaction, you hurry inside. You go straight to the bathroom and strip off your dirty scrubs.

When you’re clean and dressed, you grab your phone and collapse on your bed with it. You look forward to the weekend when your couch will be delivered so there’d be somewhere comfortable to sit. You swipe aside notifications and open the group chat you have with your friends.  
‘I’ve officially had my first night in the new house and my first day at my new job! We should get together and celebrate!’  
A few minutes later you get a reply.  
‘Congrats!! Sounds good, I was thinking maybe we could check out the Raccoon City cinema, I heard they just got new, bigger screens and really comfy seats.’  
Once everyone is present in the group chat, arrangements are made to see a movie on Saturday night.

-

You head into work the next day and things are fairly similar to the day before for the first couple hours. You’re cleaning out some of the indoor kennels when you hear a commotion from the reception area. You hear loud barking and growling.  
‘That dog sounds very angry… or scared.’ You think.  
You hear voices and sounds of people struggling. Reluctantly, you exit the kennels and head into the reception area. You see two men struggling with what appears to be a Doberman. It has a slip lead around its neck but is fighting is with what seems like every ounce of strength it possesses. Two of your colleagues are attempting to approach the dog without getting in the way of its snapping jaws. You stand there dumbly, not sure what to do. You notice the dog looks to be in very poor health. Its body is covered in large, red lesions which look fleshy and raw. You’ve never seen or heard of anything like it. You feel sorry for the poor animal.  
With every bark, strings of saliva launch out of its mouth, swinging under its chin. Your boss, who was previously busy with another client, swiftly enters the room.  
“I need you guys to stand back,” she says to the men who brought the dog in. She then directs her gaze to the two vets restraining the dog. “Bring the dog into the consult room. I think we’re going to need to sedate this one.”  
You watch as they slowly make their way to the consult room with the thrashing dog. You notice your heart is beating extra hard and fast. You look across the room and your eyes meet with the receptionist. She gives you a sympathetic look.  
“You can go back to the kennels. They’ll handle it from here.” 

You return to your work as requested. You notice the barking stop for a while, and you feel a sense of relief. However you are still concerned over the condition of the dog. It appeared to be some kind of aggressive skin disease, but the way its flesh was exposed makes your insides squirm. You sigh. Were you really cut out for this job? It’s only your second day and you’ve already had a frightening experience and have been grossed out by the sight of blood and flesh. You try to push the thoughts out of your mind and focus on the task and hand, when the barking starts again. You hear one of your colleagues swear loudly, then a door open and close. At a loss for what to do, you try to keep focusing on your cleaning. About ten minutes pass and then the barking changed to quiet growls. Then all goes silent. You continue your work with a horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Your shift comes to its end and you gather your belongings. As you pass through reception, you stop at the desk.  
“What happened with the Doberman from earlier?”  
The receptionist frowned. “One of the vets was bitten pretty badly and had to go to hospital. The sedation wouldn’t work for long at all, and its aggression was very intense, so they decided to euthanize the dog.”  
You swallow hard. “The vet who was bitten, will they be ok?”  
The receptionist sighed heavily. “I think so. They’ll probably have a nasty scar though.”

-

When you pull into your driveway and turn off the engine, you sit in the car for a minute. They warned you when you were studying that there would be a lot of death involved in working at a vet clinic, so you needed to be prepared for that, but there was something different about today’s case. There was something very wrong with that dog, and it was struggling so much, probably in so much pain, and it was frightened. It was so frightened that it had to die. You find yourself still gripping the steering wheel, your knuckles white. When you realise, you loosen you grip and exit the car. As you swing your work bag over your shoulder, you notice movement from Leon’s front window. He seems to be putting up new curtains. He catches your eye and smiles through the window. You force a smile back, not sure if it was at all convincing. Like the day before, you head straight for the shower. As the hot water washes over you, you take deep breaths, thinking over what happened that day.  
‘This won’t happen all the time. It was just a bad day.’ You tell yourself over and over.

Later you get started on some dishes when you hear a knock at your door. You shake the water and suds off your hands and dry them quickly before heading down the hall. You open the door to see Leon with a small box tucked under his arm.  
“Hey (Y/N), I hope this isn’t a bad time?”  
“Not at all,” you say, even though it isn’t actually a very good time, but you don’t want to seem unfriendly. “Come in if you like.”  
You open the door wider and stand aside, allowing Leon to walk past you. He stops when he’s part way down the hall to let you lead the way to the living area.  
“I, uh,” Leon scratched the back of his neck. “Just thought I’d see how you were doing.”  
“I’m fine.” You say, a little too quickly. “How are you?” You cringe at yourself. You’re usually not the best at conversation, but this just feel especially awkward.  
“I’m good.” Leon smiles slightly. “You got any housewarming plans yet?” He gestures around the room.  
“Not really, the house isn’t in the best state at the moment.” You glance sideways, embarrassed. “I’m going to catch up with friends on Saturday though, in Raccoon City actually. When are you starting at the police station?”  
“Funny you should mention that actually.” Leon frowns slightly. “I was supposed to start tomorrow, but I got a call today from the station, telling me not to come in.”  
You raise an eyebrow. “That’s weird. Did they tell you why?”  
“They didn’t. Something doesn’t seem right.” Leon looks down thoughtfully.  
“Hopefully they’ll give you some clarification; maybe they’re having some kind of technical difficulties?” You give a sympathetic smile.  
“Yeah… anyway,” Leon looks back up and smiles. He takes the small box out from under his arm. “I just wanted to give you a little housewarming gift.” He holds it out to you.  
You stare at it, shocked for a moment, before you reach out and take the box. “You didn’t have to do that, I feel bad!”  
“Please don’t feel bad! It’s just something small; it might be lame too, I don’t know.” He chuckled.  
“I’m sure it’s not lame.” You blush slightly as you untie open the lid of the box.  
Whatever is inside is wrapped up in tissue paper. You take it out and find it has a bit of weight to it. You place the wrapped gift on the kitchen counter and carefully unwrap it. As you remove the last layer of paper, you are greeted with two pairs of cartoon-like eyes. Two dog-shaped salt and pepper shakers; one black and one white, look up out from the paper pile.  
You can’t help but smile. “They’re adorable, I love them!”  
Leon lets out a relieved breath. “I’m glad you like them.” He grins.  
You take each dog in your hand individually to look at them closer. You find yourself staring at the black dog for several moments longer.  
“What’s wrong? Is that one damaged?” Leon steps closer, ready to assess the dog in question.  
“No,” you put it down quickly. “It’s just…” You trail off and sigh.  
“I can go if it’s a bad time.” Leon gestures to the front door. “Or… we can talk if it’ll help.”  
He waits patiently for you to decide.  
“I’m sorry Leon, I don’t want to bore you with my problems.” He opens his mouth to speak but you get there first. “But I promise you, I love the gift. It just made me think of something that happened today.”  
“At work?” Leon asks. His eyes showed concern. He has kind eyes, you decide.  
“Yeah… a dog was brought in today. It was so distressed, I can’t describe it. It had this horrible skin disease covering almost its whole body… it attacked one of my co-workers, who had to go to hospital. Anyway, it was so aggressive that it had to be euthanized.”  
“That’s horrible… I’m sorry.” Leon says gently.  
“I know there’ll be many rewarding experiences with this job, but I guess that whole thing had kind of put a damper on my first week, you know? It’s it just so sad…”  
Leon comes closer and leans on the counter next to you. “It is no doubt a horrible thing to experience, and I’m not trying to dismiss it at all, but… I know you are going to help so many animals.” He gives a kind smile. “It’s a sad fact that not everyone can be saved, but there will be so many that you help. They will have a better life because of you. They’ll be happy because you helped them; because you cared.”  
You look up and meet his eyes. He is smiling softly, encouragingly.  
“You’re right… thank you Leon.” Your eyes are locked for a moment before you grin. “You know what I know for certain?”  
Leon raises his eyebrows questioningly. “What’s that?”  
“You are going to be a wonderful cop.”

-

The rest of the work week goes rather smoothly, and you are asked to assist with some consultations. You start to feel better about your job after having more interactions with animals you know can be helped. The doctor who was bitten earlier in the week isn’t seen or heard from.

Saturday comes around and your dad arrives in the morning, bringing with him some more of your furniture and belongings. He helps you install your bed, a small sofa and a dining table with chairs, and he surprises you with a new TV. You feel excited to see your new house starting to look like a home. Soon you’ll feel comfortable having friends over to see the place.

Looking forward to the movie that night, you send a message to the group chat.  
‘Just making sure we’re still on for the movie tonight? Looking forward to it!’  
You see neither of your friends are online, so you carry on getting your house sorted and tidied up.

As it nears 4 in the afternoon, you check your phone again, for about the fifth time since you sent the message. There’s no reply and it hasn’t been seen by anyone. You start to feel anxious, but try to tell yourself they’re probably just busy getting ready. You head to your room and choose an outfit to wear, then head to the bathroom to do your makeup, making sure your phone’s sound is on so you’ll know as soon as someone replies. 

Forty-five minutes later and still no reply. You try to ring each of your friends but neither pick up. You start to feel frantic, but decide you will head to the cinema anyway. You know sometimes your friends can be really slack at communicating; this is probably just another one of those times. You make sure you have everything you need in your bag and head out the front door. You fiddle with your keys and head towards your car.  
“(Y/N)!” Leon approaches you quickly. “You’re heading to Raccoon City tonight, right?”  
“Yeah, to see a movie with my friends.” You reply, noticing to worried look on Leon’s face.  
“Have you heard from them at all today?” He asks.  
“No, I haven’t actually… I’ve been a little worried.”  
“I’ve tried to contact the police station every day since I saw you last and I can’t get through. Something is wrong. Please… I think you should stay here.”  
“But my friends… what if something has happened to them?” Your heart starts beating fast and hard at the thought.  
“I understand… alright. We can go together. Come in my car and we’ll head to the station to see what’s going on, then we can find your friends.”  
You take out your phone and turn on the screen; still nothing.  
“Ok,” your heart pounds at all the thoughts running through your head; images and theories playing one after the other. “Let’s go.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who read the last chapter and to those who left kudos! I didn't expect that many to read this, so it really means so much to me!
> 
> I also just want to say, while this fic will go through the game events, it will not just be a retelling. I am planning to add my own subplot to make things a bit different! I'm also thinking I might mix some scenario A and B elements :)
> 
> So again, thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoy!

The first few minutes of the car ride are awkwardly silent, until Leon clears his throat.  
“So… how’s work been at the clinic?”   
“It’s been better. Thanks.” You look over to him and smile.  
Leon keeps his eyes on the road but nods in answer. “Hopefully this is all something simple, like a power outage in the city. That could be why we haven’t heard anything, if the phone towers are down too.” He rationalizes, seemingly more to himself than to you. “Do your friends live in Raccoon City?”  
“They do for now. They’re studying at the university there.” You fiddle with your hands in your lap. “I’m sorry to be such a pessimist, but don’t you think, if it is a power outage, we would have seen something about it in the news?”  
Leon exhales deeply. “I guess so.”  
The car ride continues in silence before Leon turns the radio on.

Leon pulls into a gas station. “I won’t be long, I just need to fill up.”  
You nod in response and stay in the car. You hear Leon take the gas nozzle from the bowser and start filling the tank.  
“No one’s around,” You hear him mutter. “That’s weird.”  
You wind down the window and poke your head out to face him. “What’s wrong?”  
“That cop car-” the sound of glass breaking stops him mid-sentence. He looks back to you. “Stay here.”  
He starts walking slowly towards to gas station entrance.  
You quickly unfasten your seatbelt and get out the car. “Leon!” You call out in a hoarse whisper. “What are you doing?”  
“Something’s not right.”  
“I’m not going to wait in the car while you walk right into danger.”  
Leon considers as he looks you over. “Just stay behind me.”  
You do as he says as he makes his way slowly closer to the entrance. You notice a trail of blood leading up to the door.   
“What the hell…” You whisper.  
You feel yourself starting to panic, but you follow Leon because you don’t know what else to do. You both reach the door and Leon carefully pushes it open. It is dark inside the station, but an illuminated flashlight is on the ground just in front of the door. Leon picks it up and scans the room. Items have been knocked off the shelves and there’s more blood on the floor.  
“Something’s not right.” He mutters again.  
Every instinct is telling you to run, but you stay by Leon. You can’t let him go into this alone.   
You can hear muffled banging and grunting from another room. As you make it around one of the shelves, you see a man slumped on the ground, clutching his neck with a bloody hand. You feel a horrible jolt run through your whole body.  
“Are you alright?” Leon asks the man.  
He says nothing in response, just points with his free hand to the open door next to him.  
“Don’t move, I’ll be back for you.” Leon assures him.  
You follow Leon through the door, into a long room with shelves of boxed stock on the left side and the back of the drinks fridges on the right. You and Leon make your way down the hall, the flashlight illuminating the way. You hear the grunting again. It gets louder as you approach a door at the end of the hall. You can feel your heart pounding against your ribs as you get closer. Leon pushes open the door, his flashlight revealing the source of the noise. A man in a sheriff uniform is restraining another man against the back wall of the storeroom.  
“Officer, you need help?” Leon offers.  
The sheriff turns to face Leon, still restraining the other man. “Stay back sir, I got this.”  
Within a second, the restrained man breaks free, pushing the sheriff to the ground. The man makes a terrible growl, pushing the sheriff’s head to the floor, and then he buries his face in the sheriff’s neck. You hear a horrible sound. You know what it sounds like, but you don’t want to think about it.  
“Hey! Hey, get off him right now!” Leon shouts in a panic.  
“Help me!” The sheriff says in a raspy voice.  
The man attacking him brings his head back, and you see blood and flesh. You turn away quickly, feeling faint. You hear the horrible sounds of what you now can’t deny, is ripping flesh.  
“What the fuck…” You hear Leon murmur in disbelief.  
You turn back and hesitantly open your eyes again. The deranged man has spotted you and Leon. His pale face stares at you with white eyes, blood running down his chin. He stumbles into an upright stance.  
“Freeze! I’ll shoot!” Leon shouts, pulling out a handgun from under his jacket.  
The man ignores Leon and starts to shuffle towards you. Leon shoots; the two loud shots seem to deafen you. You watch the blood-stained man fall to the ground, his body landing on the floor with a thump. Leon stares in shock at what he’s done. You look at the bloody bodies on the floor.  
“What the hell is happening?” You barely manage to choke out the words.  
“I don’t know…” Leon replies, his voice wavering.  
You look back to him, but his eyes are still fixed on the bloody mess.   
“Leon… you had to do it… or we would have ended up like the sheriff.” You try your best to comfort him.  
He tears his eyes away from the horrific scene. “We should check for more survivors.”  
He steps through a gap in the shelves to the right and tries the door around the corner.  
“Locked.” He states, after jiggling the handle.  
The two of you turn back the way you came, when you see the man who Leon had shot, rise from the ground, appearing no worse from the bullet wounds. He immediately starts heading towards you again.  
“No way…” Leon breathes. “This can’t be…”  
“How…” You start, but you can’t finish the sentence.  
Leon raises his gun and shoots again, this time he fires three shots straight into the head. The man collapses to the floor again. Leon runs to the body and reluctantly nudges its head with his foot.  
“Surely he’s dead now…” He murmurs.  
You cautiously follow Leon past the body, around more shelves of stock. Around a corner is clearly someone’s personal desk. Pinned to the adjacent wall are photographs of women scantily clad in bikinis, with their assets on display. A box of half-eaten pizza sits on the desk. Whatever the hell happened here took everyone by surprise, it seems. Next to the photographs, you see a key rack with a single key hanging on one of the hooks.  
“Leon,” You gesture to the key.  
He follows your gesture and spots the key, taking it off the hook. He turns it over in his hand.  
“That locked door maybe?”  
You nod and you both turn back and return to the door Leon tried earlier. The door unlocks with an easy turn and leads you back into the main part of the gas station. Straight ahead you see the man from earlier with the neck wound, clumsily getting up from the floor. With his hands now by his side, you see the terrible hole in his neck, a trail of blood running down his left side. He shambles towards you and Leon.  
“Oh no…” You say in barely more than a whisper, noticing the pale eyes and skin that he now possesses.  
Your eyes dart toward the front door of the station. You start to step back to find a path out of there, but another one of the monstrous people leaps forwards, tripping up and landing in a heap, but almost immediately after, they are rising again. The panic you feel in your body becomes more intense. There is no clear way out of the station.  
“What do we do?” You say shakily.  
“Stay close behind me.” Leon raises his gun again.  
He shoots the man with the neck wound in the knee. The man stumbles from the impact.  
“Come on!” Leon shouts to you as he moves faster around the shelves, shoving the man so he lands flat on his face. “Hurry!”  
He looks back to you, his eyes desperate. You both make a sharp turn around the end of the aisle.   
Another man is reaching through one of the shelving units, his arm outstretched towards you. Leon leads the way, running as fast as he can with you in tow, before the man’s weight make the shelves topple behind you. You look to the door as you run past an ice cream freezer; you can’t wait to leave this awful place. Through the glass you see someone appear just in front of it. Shit. You’re blocked in. There is no escape. It feels like a huge weight drops in your stomach. The door swings open, revealing a woman in a red leather jacket. You quickly look her over; her face, her eyes… she looks normal. Leon raises his gun.  
“Leon, wait!” You shout.  
“Don’t shoot!” The woman throws up her hands.  
“Get down!” Leon shouts, still aiming his gun towards her.  
The woman ducks quickly and Leon releases two bullets into a person who had been lurking behind, unbeknownst to her. Leon glances back to you, prompting you to follow him as he steps outside. The woman stands up again, and like you and Leon, looks around for any sign of danger.  
“You alright?” Leon asks her.  
“Yeah, I think so… thanks.”  
“Thank me later… when we’re safe.” Leon replies.  
“Um… guys…” You point ahead of you, the dread filling your whole body all over again.  
A hoard of those shambling… people… are heading towards the three of you from the other side of the bowsers.  
“Holy shit…” The woman breathes.  
The man at the front of the group lets out a terrible shriek, his gaping mouth revealing that parts of his face are missing, revealing bloody flesh underneath. The hoard is closing in on you, moving much faster than the people inside the station. A crash from behind you makes all three of you jump and spin around to see another person from inside the station with their mutilated face pressed against the glass of the door. Leon glances back ahead.  
“Come on!” He shouts, grabbing you around the arm to lead you away.  
You all run towards the abandoned police car. Leon jumps in the driver’s seat and starts the ignition. You quickly jump in the back, the woman doing the same after pushing one of the shambling people out of her way. She slams the door behind her.  
Leon looks back at the two of you in the back seat. “Hold on.”  
He quickly puts the car in reverse, speeding back, out of the gas station to the road, and puts the car into drive, taking off at full speed, closely avoiding the shamblers following. Leon looks back out the rear window, you and the woman doing the same. As you gain more distance from the gas station, you can no longer see any of the terrifying people watching you.  
You sigh deeply. “Thank fuck the keys were still in the ignition.”  
The woman looks at you and grimaces in agreement.   
“What the hell is going on?” She asks, looking between you and Leon.  
“I don’t know,” Leon replies. “Hopefully they’ll have some answers at the police station.”  
“Wait, you’re a cop?” The woman asks.  
“Yeah, Leon Kennedy.” Leon introduces himself. “You are…?”  
“Claire… Claire Redfield.” The woman replies, turning to look at you as well.  
“I’m (Y/N).” You say awkwardly.  
Claire nods. “I was on my way to Raccoon City to look for my brother. He’s a cop too.”  
“Well,” Leon replies. “It’s a good thing we found each other. (Y/N) is looking for people too.”  
“Really?” Claire turns to you.  
“Yeah… I was supposed to be seeing a movie with my friends tonight in Raccoon City.” You explain. “I haven’t heard from them.”  
“Hopefully we’ll both find who we’re looking for.” Claire smiles softly. “So… do you guys know each other?”  
“Yeah, we’re neighbours… friends.” Leon replies, glancing back at you. “We came here together. I was supposed to start at R.P.D last week but was told not to come in, with no explanation. I haven’t been able to get through to the station since. Then (Y/N) hadn’t heard anything from her friends, so we knew something was definitely up.” He sighs deeply and shakes his head slightly. “I don’t know what to expect anymore.”

-

You are jolted out of your deep train of thought when Leon announces that you’ve arrived in Racoon City. Rain patters against the windows of the car. You look out to the streets. You can’t see anyone around, just a bunch of cars parked along the side of the street, their side mirrors reflecting the headlights of the cop car as Leon drove you past. As Leon drives further into the city, you begin to hear a message playing through speakers in the street.

‘Attention all citizens: Due to the city-wide outbreak, you are advised to take shelter at the Raccoon City police station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need.’

“Oh my god, this is so unreal.” Claire remarks.  
“The police station’s not much farther,” Leon assures, glancing back to you and Claire. “They’ll know something.”  
“Yeah but… what if we’re the only ones? What if there’s no survivors?” Claire asks.  
She voices the thoughts that are running through your head, but it certainly doesn’t make you feel good to hear it said out loud.  
“No,” Leon says firmly. “There’s survivors. It’s a big city… there has to be.”  
Claire says nothing in response, but you can see the concern in her face.  
The car pulls to a halt as Leon spots a blockade ahead. You lean around the front seat to look through the windshield, and see a mess of cars behind the blockade. Leon turns off the headlights and kills the ignition.  
“Looks like we’re walking from here.”  
You hear a noise from outside, and look out the window. Claire does the same, leaning forward to get a better view. You see three people; one on the ground and the other two leaning over the first. They seem to be… eating the person on the ground. A wave of nausea hits you. As if they can feel your gaze, the apparent cannibals raise their heads and turn to look straight at you and Claire. As if on cue, something thuds against the side of the car. Suddenly the car is surrounded by blood-soaked people, their growling and rasping deafening in your ears. The car rocks from side to side from the weight of them pushing against it.  
“Leon, we gotta back up!” Claire yells.  
Leon starts the ignition again, when a bright light shines through the back window. You look out and see a large truck speeding right towards you.   
“What the… holy shit!” You yell in a panic.  
“(Y/N), Claire, get out! Get out now!” Leon shouts, pushing his weight against his own door, trying to break free with the people outside still pushing against the car. You try with all your strength to get your door open, bashing it with your shoulder, kicking it with your feet, but nothing works.  
“I can’t get it open!” You scream.  
All you can feel is panic, and the realisation that you are going to die, when the impact happens. Your whole body jolts forward; the seatbelt feels like it crushes your sternum and your neck whips forwards. You hear the screeching of tires, windows smashing and the sound of metal crashing into metal. Then it’s over. You take a sharp breath. You can’t believe it… you’re still here. Your door opens and Leon leans over you and unclicks your seatbelt. He slips his arm under your shoulders and pulls you out the car, putting your weight against him.  
“I’m ok,” You gasp, finding your feet. “I can walk.”  
He carefully removes his arm from around you.  
“Where’s Claire?” You ask, looking back at the car.  
With a deafening noise, the bar bursts into flames, causing you and Leon and stumble back.  
“No!” You scream, finding your feet again.  
Another car which must have been caught in the collision bursts into flames as well, this time throwing you and Leon off your feet. Your body is flung through the air before colliding against the hard metal of another car. You feel like all the air has been knocked out of your lungs. You gasp for air and look around for Leon. He is against the same car, a few feet away from you. He stumbles to his feet, clutching his chest. He staggers over to you.  
“Are you alright?” He asks, extending a hand to you.  
You reach up and take it, allowing him to pull you upright. “As alright as I can be, all things considered.”  
You wince at the pain in your back from the impact. As you steady yourself on your feet, you realise that you and Leon are now surrounded by flames.  
“Claire…” You whisper, the light of the flames burning your eyes.  
“Claire!” Leon yells towards the car. “Claire, are you ok?”  
When there is only silence in response, your hearts sinks. But a few seconds later, a voice shouts from behind the flames.  
“Yeah! I’m alright! How about you and (Y/N)?”  
You and Leon whip around as you hear grunting from around you. Bodies which were assumedly knocked down from the explosion were now getting up again, and all their eyes are on you and Leon.  
“We can’t stay here, it’s not safe!” Leon shouts back to Claire.  
He steps in front of you protectively, drawing his gun.  
“Go on ahead!” Claire replies through the flames. “I’ll meet you at the station!”  
Leon turns back to you. “Stay close to me, (Y/N).”  
You follow him and you both run down the street, the cars and blockade now dispersed from the collision.  
“This is out of control.” Leon looks around in disbelief.   
The two of you weave your way between the scattered cars and avoid any person you see.  
“Shit, it’s everybody.” Leon remarks. “They’ve all turned.”  
“That message on the loudspeakers said it’s an outbreak. So this is some kind of virus?” You ask in disbelief.  
“It seems so.”  
You can’t think of anything to say in reply, so you just follow Leon down an alleyway. You head down a set of stairs in the alley. The walls are painted with several works of graffiti, some wild flames illuminating the paint. More stairs head up at the end of the alley, your whole body aching as you force yourself up them. The stairs come out to another street.  
“There it is; the station.” Leon gestures ahead.  
You follow his direction and see a large, old style building across the street ahead. You and Leon weave through more cluttered cars ahead, and more infected people who are scattered throughout the street. You pass a school bus and see the R.P.D gates ahead. Several infected are lurking in front of the gate; the one closest to the gate appears to be eating someone on the ground.  
Leon mumbles quietly in your ear. “When I say run, you run ahead of me to the station. Get through the gates as soon as you can.”  
“What are you going to do?” You ask worriedly.  
“Make it safer for you.”  
You and Leon cautiously step closer towards the gates, but the infected are not stupid. They hear your footsteps and turn their attention to the two of you. Leon fires two shots into the nearest infected.  
“(Y/N), run!” Leon shouts, fighting off grasping hands.  
“But-”  
“Go! I’ll be right behind you!”  
Leon breaks free and shoves the infected to the ground. He fires another two shots at the infected near the gates, it joining its victim on the ground. You run to the gate and start to push against it, but it’s heavy. The gate is opening much slower than you’d like. You whip your head around and see Leon running toward you. He outstretches his arms on either side of you, pushing the gate open while shielding you. The gate opens far enough for you to fit through, so you run through the gap and turn back for Leon. The infected, that Leon shot to the ground before, reaches out its hand and grabs Leon’s ankle, tripping him up.  
“Leon!” You shout, running to him.  
You grab his arms and drag him through the gate. When he is out of direct harm’s way, you push the gate closed again as fast as you can, sliding the large bolt across to seal it shut. Three infected slam against the gate as you shut it, rattling the metal, but it doesn’t give way. You let out what feels like the biggest sigh of relief you’ve ever felt. You run over to Leon, who is just starting to pull himself up.  
“(Y/N),” he gasps. “I think you just saved my life.”  
His eyes meet yours. You can feel the look of gratitude so strongly, but you can hardly believe what you had just managed to do.  
“Well,” You laugh embarrassed. “You can’t expect me to get through all this by myself, can you?”  
You gesture to the infected still reaching through from the other side of the gate.  
Leon chuckles. “I guess not.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter this time, sorry! But it felt right to end it where I did.  
> I found this chapter to be a bit of a challenge to write. I played the game as I was writing to try to get a better idea of the police station, but I don't know if it really helped.
> 
> Thanks again for everyone who is reading this, and for all the kudos and subscriptions! It is so exciting to see that people are reading this and want to see more!

The first thing you notice when you and Leon step inside the police station is the large, Grecian-looking statue of a woman, towards the back of the entrance hall. The second thing you notice is that the hall is deserted.  
“Where is everyone?”  
Leon doesn’t answer as he paces around the room, investigating every corner.  
“Hello? Is anybody here?” He yells, his voice echoing throughout the room. He finishes his loop and joins you again. “It looks like the station was set up as a make-shift hospital.”  
“So where are the patients?”  
Your question hangs in the air, as you are sure the same thought goes through both your heads.  
You clear your throat to cut the painful silence. “So what should we do now?”  
Leon rubs the back of his neck. You can tell he is starting to panic when he looks over to the reception desk.  
“Look,” he says, as he approaches an open laptop that is sitting smaller desk behind.  
You follow him to the desk, looking over his shoulder. The laptop screen is displaying the R.P.D logo. Leon presses a button on the keyboard, which prompts the screen display to change to what looks like a security feed.  
“There has to be someone here.” He says, his eyes flicking between each video feed.  
On the bottom right feed, labelled ‘Cam 4’, you see a man run into frame. Leon enlarges the window. The man turns back, gun drawn, when an infected also enters the frame. The man fires three shots, runs down the hall in the direction of the camera and out of frame. Leon switches the window the ‘Cam 3’, where the man is now visible.  
“David? Marvin? You there?” The man says, looking up to the camera. “I found a way out, it’s in here!”   
He holds up a small journal. The infected you saw in ‘Cam 4’ now enters the frame, shuffling towards the man. The man turns and takes another shot. He then seemingly runs out of ammo, as the infected gets closer to him and the man shoves them back.  
“Send reinforcements; east hallway!” He speaks to the camera again, before running off screen.  
Leon opens another window which shows a map of the station. He studies it, finding the area marked ‘East Hallway’.  
“We’ve gotta find that guy.” Leon turns away from the laptop.  
You scan the hall. On the east wall, closer to the station entrance, you spot a slightly-opened shutter, with a hand-written ‘Keep Out’ sign taped to it. “How about through there?” You point to it. “I mean, I don’t like the look of that warning sign, but it seems like out best bet.”  
You and Leon approach the shutter and spot a lever to the left, with a red light at the top of the panel. Leon grabs the lever and pulls it down. The light turns green and you hear a loud beep. The shutter shifts slightly, but jams and stops in place.  
“Of course,” Leon sighs. He gets down on his stomach in front of the shutter and sticks his head under it, using his flashlight to look around.   
“Be careful, or I’ll have to pull you out by your legs this time.” You quip.  
Leon chuckles. “It looks clear.” He turns his head to you. “I’ll go through first, then you can come in behind.”  
You nod as he crawls the rest of the way under. You see the beam of his flashlight move around some more through the gap.  
“Alright, you can come through now.” He says.  
You get down onto your stomach as he did, and start and crawl under the door. The floor is covered in blood. The metallic smell makes you wrinkle your nose and you feel some more nausea coming on. Leon extends a hand to help you up. You take it and get into an upright position. As you look around, you see that you’re in a wide hallway. You notice the floor is glistening, when you realise that it’s covered in a layer of shallow water. The walls on either side are covered in missing persons posters.  
“Can I borrow that?” You gesture to the flashlight in Leon’s hand.  
He nods and passes it to you. You shine the light on the posters, inspecting the photos and names on each one. There’s no sign of your friends’ faces, in fact, the photos seem to be mostly of children. What the hell is happening in this city?  
“Looking for your friends?” Leon says gently from over your shoulder.  
“Yeah,” You turn to face him, handing back the flashlight. “They’re not there.”  
He places a hand on your shoulder, and looks into your eyes sincerely. “We’ll find them.”  
You try to smile but can feel that you fail. “Thank you.”  
Leon gives you a gentle smile before looking down the hall with the flashlight again. Not seeing your friends’ faces on the missing posters didn’t make you feel any better or worse. Sure, they weren’t reported missing before all this started, but how long ago did the outbreak start? You heard from your friends a few days ago, so surely everything was fine then, otherwise they would have mentioned something. What if they were infected? What if they were like those things outside? Your eyes prick at the thought. No, you can’t think like that now.   
You catch up to Leon near the end of the hall.   
“I think this is the way,” he says, turning right.  
It’s another long hall with metal shelving along the sides, piled with boxes. As the two of you walk further down, you see the path ahead is blocked by a locker that has tipped over.  
“Here,” Leon passes you the flashlight.  
He positions himself against the locker and grunts as he pushes his weight against it. It tips back the other way and slams into place. He scans the area in front of him before beckoning you to follow. There’s a fire hydrant ahead and a hall to the left which is barricaded with various items of furniture. You and Leon walk past the hall and turn right at the hydrant. You gasp at the sight ahead of you. Three bodies are sprawled out on the floor, blood splattered everywhere.  
“Jesus…” Leon mutters and the two of you step closer.  
You take a left around the corner when you hear a banging from nearby.  
“Open up! Hurry! Open up! Open this goddamn door!”  
You and Leon run to the source of the noise, into a small office area. At the far end of the room on the right, you see another shutter which is warping with each bang.   
“I’ll get you out!” Leon shouts, running to the shutter.  
He hooks his hands underneath and pulls up as hard as he can, but the door seems stuck. Leon only manages to lift it by a few inches when a hand reaches underneath, clutching a journal. It’s the man from the security feed.  
“Please!” he shouts hoarsely. “Help me!”  
“Give me your hand!” Leon takes the man’s arm. “I’ve got you.”  
The man brings his other arm forward, trying to crawl through the small gap. He turns on his back so Leon can take his other arm. You hear groaning from the other side of the shutter. You feel your stomach drop. You run next to Leon, taking the man’s arm closest to you and pull with all the strength you can muster, but something is holding him back. Suddenly, the man screams and blood sprays out from under the shutter. You keep pulling as hard as you can as the man continues to scream, the most terrible scream you’ve ever heard, but you can’t pull him any further. You hear more growling from the other side, when finally you and Leon manage to pull the man through. For a brief moment, you feel relief, until you actually look at him. It feels like your blood drains from you completely when you see the state of him. His body has been severed from the waist down, his insides spewing out from his waist. His screams turn into guttural noises. Leon leans over him, face pale as snow. He helplessly places his hands on the man, at a loss for what to do. Then, the man becomes still. Leon breathes heavily as he looks at the man’s face. You feel faint, leaning against the wall to steady yourself, when you hear more grunting from the other side of the shutter. Leon’s attention is drawn to it too as the shutter warps again as whatever is on the other side pounds against it. He quickly looks down at the man’s outstretched hand and takes the journal from it. He stands up and shoves it in his jacket pocket.   
“Come on,” he grabs your arm. “Let’s get out of here.”  
You jog to the door of the office, but something on the other side is banging against it, making it shudder in the frame.  
“Shit!” You panic, looking for any other way out, when the door bursts open.  
An infected in a police uniform stumbles into you and Leon, knocking you back. It latches its hands onto Leon’s shoulders and tries to sink its teeth into his neck. Leon tries to hold its head back with his hands, his face contorted with the effort. The infected’s teeth are bared, getting closer and closer to Leon’s exposed neck. Failing to think of anything else you can do without a weapon, you lunge forward and kick the attacker in the shin as hard as you can. Its leg buckles and it falls to the floor. Leon quickly draws his gun, firing into its head. The two of you step over the corpse, back through the office door. You run around the corner, an infected slamming its fists against the nearby window from outside. You hear the glass smash, but you keep on running without looking back. The two of you retrace your steps through the halls. Two infected step out from around a corner.  
“Jesus, they’re everywhere!” Leon pulls out his gun again, firing at the infected man and woman that are now shambling towards you. As soon as they are downed, you keep running. You take the last turn before you’re back in the hall with the missing persons posters.  
“Come on, quick,” Leon pushes you in front of him when you reach the shutter.  
You get down on your stomach again and try to crawl under, but the shutter has dropped again since you and Leon came through before.  
“I can’t get through!” You shout desperately.  
Leon hooks his hands around the bottom of the shutter and pulls as hard as he can, allowing you to squeeze past. As soon as you’re on the other side, you turn back as Leon starts to pull himself through. You hook your hands under as he did, to prevent the door from falling on him. He’s almost all the way through when a bloody hand reaches out from behind him, grasping his leg. Leon gasps and turns to see the infected on the other side.  
“Goddammit!” Leon shouts, trying to kick it off of him, but it starts to climb on top of him.  
You grab Leon’s arms as you did back at the station gate, and try to pull him out, but the infected’s grip on him is too much for you. But you keep trying because there’s no way you’re going to give up on him that easy. You keep pulling, hoping that maybe adrenaline will soon kick in, but the infected really has a strong hold. It starts baring its teeth, preparing to sink them into some part of Leon’s flesh, when an arm reaches from your left. It grabs a hold of Leon, pulling him out from under the shutter.  
“Watch out!” You hear a voice shout.  
You see a pair of boots step in front of you, one rising up, pressing against the shutter. The boot comes down fast and hard, the shutter slamming on the infected’s head, crushing it under the weight into a bloody mess. You look up in awe and meet eyes with a panting police officer. One hand is resting on the shutter and the other is clutching a wound on his stomach. You notice he looks quite pale, but his eyes are normal. He looks between you and Leon.  
“You’re safe… for now.” He grunts and falls against the door, clutching his stomach a little harder.  
“Thanks,” Leon breathes.  
The man nods. “Marvin Branagh,” He introduces himself, looking between you and Leon again.  
“Leon Kennedy,” Leon responds, which leaves you.  
“(Y/N) (L/N).” You pant in response.  
“There was another officer,” Leon says quickly. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t…” He screws up his face, as if he’s in pain just at the thought.  
“Here,” Marvin extends a hand to you, helping you up, before doing the same for Leon. “I’m sure you did what you could Leon.”

-

Marvin leads you and Leon to the far end of the entrance hall, where the hospital screens are set up. He finds a spare police uniform for Leon to change into. While Leon goes behind a screen to change clothes, you find a cot to sit on behind another screen.

This is the first time since you arrived that you’ve managed to sit down and… you definitely wouldn’t say relax, but, the first time that you haven’t had to be on your toes every damn second. Now you actually have time to think about everything that’s happened. You never would have imagined that a city-wide outbreak was why you hadn’t heard from your friends; and where are they? Are they shambling on the street somewhere, eyes pale, mouths bloody? Are they here in the station? Hot tears prick in your eyes, you try your best to hold them back but you can’t. The hot liquid runs down your cheeks and splatters down the front of your jacket. Everything can change in an instant. That other officer… he was alive and well in the cam footage. If you had just got to the office a little sooner… You heard his screams again, saw the blood spraying, his mangled and mutilated body…  
You lean forward quickly as you heave, vomit spilling out your mouth at the memory. You’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. The hot tears are still running down your face as your throat burns. You retch again, but nothing comes out this time. You hear footsteps quickly approaching.  
“(Y/N)?” Leon gently places a hand on your arm. “Are you ok?”  
You quickly wipe your mouth on the back of your sleeve and try to brush the tears away with your hand.  
“You alright back there?” You hear Marvin call out.  
“Yeah!” You try to steady your voice. “I’m ok now!”  
Leon meets your eyes. He knows you’re lying. “Talk to me,” Hey says softly.  
“I-” You try to start.  
Leon sits down next to you on the cot. “I think I know what you’re going through.”  
You look up at him, his kind eyes meeting yours, but you can’t bring yourself to say anything.  
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want. But just remember, I’m here for you. And not just because you saved my ass twice,” He smirks. “But because we’re friends.”  
His hand hovers above your own, hesitating, before he lightly rests it on top of yours. The warmth of his hand on yours triggers the first good feeling you’ve had all night. You’re not being grabbed or pulled or pushed or growled at. You’re not being touched so you can be someone’s potential next meal. It is kindness that you feel; alive, human kindness.  
You place your other hand on top of his and squeeze it gently.   
You meet his eyes again. “Thank you, Leon.”


	4. Chapter Four

After checking on you, Leon returns behind the other screen to finish changing. You take the time to wander around the hall and take in your surroundings. It really is a grand place. Surely it wasn’t always a police station?   
As you look around the other cots, you find some medical supplies, including bandages and first aid spray. You gather some of the materials in your arms and walk over to wear Marvin is sitting on a nearby sofa.   
“Would it be ok if I took these?” You ask.  
“Sure,” He replies, still clutching his front. “Not like there’s anyone here who needs them anymore.”  
You see darkness pass over the officer’s eyes.  
“I’m sorry,” You mutter.  
He responds with a wave of his free hand before looking away. You go back to the cot you were sitting on and dump the supplies. You realise you don’t have anything to carry all this stuff. You wander over to where Leon is getting changed and stand on the outside of the screen, clearing your throat.  
“Uh… Leon?”  
You hear a rustle before Leon appears from behind the screen. He has changed from his jeans and jacket into a navy blue R.P.D uniform.  
“It looks good on you.” You grin.  
Leon blushes. “Thanks.”  
“Do a twirl so I can see the whole look.” You smirk.  
Leon chuckles and turns on the spot awkwardly, raising his eyebrows as he faces you again. You nod approvingly.  
“Anyway,” You chuckle. “I just wanted to ask if you had anything to carry medical supplies. I found some first aid stuff which I thought we should bring with us.”  
“Good thinking. Hmm…” Leon looks around, rummaging through his pile of clothes. “Well Marvin gave me these hip pouches with the uniform.”  
He turns to you holding up two black pouches.  
“Perfect,” You smile. “One each?” You reach out to take one.  
“Sounds good to me.” Leon passes one to you and fastens the other to his belt.  
You take the other pouch back to your cot, where you split the medical supplies into two piles. You put one half in your pouch and take the remainder back to Leon.  
“For you,” You say, as you place the items on his cot.  
He smiles and nods thankfully. “Let’s hope we don’t need them.”

You and Leon head over to where Marvin is, still sitting on the couch, looking to his side at a laptop.   
“Does anyone know how this all started?” You ask.  
“There’s a lot of theories,” Marvin responds, his gaze still on the laptop. “But all I know for sure is that this place is crawling with zombies.” He looks up at you and Leon.  
“Zombies?” You ask. You can’t believe what you are hearing.  
“Yeah,” Marvin responds. “I’ve seen it. People get bit… ripped to shreds… and they die. But not long after, they’re walking around again, looking just like the rest.”  
You look down, trying to process everything that is happening. It feels so unreal.  
Leon checks himself over, making small adjustments to his uniform, before stepping closer to Marvin, interrupting the silence hanging in the air.  
“Ok Lieutenant, we’re ready.”  
“Hopefully you’ll be able to find a way out of this station,” Marvin looks up from the journal. “That officer you met earlier, Elliot… he thought this secret passageway might do the trick.”  
Marvin points to a page on the journal as he passes it over to you and Leon for inspection. Leon takes it in his hand and holds it for you to see as well.  
“Well, if we’re able to get out of here, we should get you to a hospital.” You look back at Leon to back you up.  
He opens his mouth to speak but is cut off.  
“No, forget about me. I can take care of myself.” Marvin says, patting your arm dismissively.   
“But me and Leon… we can help you, Marvin.”  
“Listen, (Y/N),” Marvin says firmly, meeting your eye. “Save yourselves.”  
You can tell his word is final, so you don’t try to argue with him any further, but you look down to his wound and you realise: it looks like a bite mark. Your heart sinks in your chest.  
“Now,” Marvin retrieves something from beside him. “You’ll probably need this.” He passes Leon a combat knife.  
“I can’t take-” Leon starts.  
“Stop,” Marvin interjects, placing the knife into Leon’s hand. “And don’t make my mistake. If you see one of those things,” Marvin looks between you and Leon. “No matter who they were, you do not hesitate. Take them out if you can… or you run.”  
You and Leon nod gravely as Marvin groans and falls back onto the couch, holding his hand hard against his wound. He clutches his teeth, panting. You feel helpless, just standing there. But now you understand that there is nothing you can do to help him.

You and Leon walk down the ramp back to the front section of the station. To your right is a grill shutter, separating what looks like a waiting area on the other side. On the wall next to the shutter is some kind of power box which has been sealed shut with yellow tape. Leon pulls out the knife which Marvin just gave him and cuts the tape around the edges of the box. He pulls open the box door which reveals a lever the same as the one for the shutter on the opposite side. Leon pulls the lever which causes a loud beep before the shutter starts to rise. You and Leon step though into the waiting room before you grab his arm. He stops in his tracks and looks back at you.  
“You alright?” He asks.  
“No, it’s just… I can’t keep doing this.”  
Leon frowns. “What do you mean?”  
“Just following you around with no way to properly defend myself. What if Marvin wasn’t there to save us earlier? You definitely would have got infected; I probably would have shortly after. I can’t expect you to save my ass as well as your own. I know I got lucky a couple times, but it won’t always be like that. I need a weapon.”   
You don’t mean to sound so angry. You aren’t mad at him; not at all, but rather the entire situation the two of you, and the city, are in. Leon gives an intensely apologetic look; it actually makes you feel guilty for the harshness of your tone.  
“You’re right,” He sighs. “I’m so sorry, (Y/N). I’m going to find you something you can use. This is a police station, there’s bound to be something here.”  
When he meets your eyes, you know it’s a promise.   
“I’m sorry Leon, I’m not mad at you,” You say sheepishly. “It’s just with everything that’s happening… I’m scared.”  
You stare at the floor self-consciously, slightly in part to you admitting so openly how you are feeling, but largely because you’re telling the man who not long ago, was pinned down by a zombie and almost infected, or worse, that you are scared. You are jolted out of your thoughts when you feel a warm hand on your arm. You look up, your eyes meeting with Leon’s. There’s something about his eyes… like when you look into them, you know that everything he says is with absolute earnest.   
“I’m scared too.” He says quietly.  
“You are?”  
“Of course; who wouldn’t be? Anyone in this situation who says they aren’t scared is lying.”  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” You look to the other side of the room where you can see more blood on the floor, leading to a door. “Well, now that we’ve established that we are both terrified, should we follow that blood trail?” You smirk.  
Leon follows your gaze and sighs. “This is not how I imagined my first day.”

You and Leon proceed through the door and into another hallway. Most of the windows along the side of the hall are blocked off with wooden boards. As you progress further, you spot another police officer slumped against the wall at the end of the hall. You can hear radio static which seems to be coming from his direction.  
“Let’s hope this guy stays put.” Leon says as he approaches the officer, kneeling beside him.  
A small police radio is attached to the officer’s shoulder. Leon takes it in his hand to listen, but puts it aside again when only static can be heard. The side of the officer’s face looks bloody. Leon carefully places a hand on the side of the officer’s head, tilting it to the side to get a better look. He gasps and turns his head away.  
“(Y/N), look away.” He says.  
As you’re hoping to keep any possible remaining contents in your stomach intact, you do as Leon says and look intently at the floor beside you, as you hear Leon move the officer’s head again. You hear a horrible fleshy noise as Leon makes a retching noise.  
“What the fuck?”  
You hear Leon step away from the body so you shift your gaze to look at him, trying to resist to annoyingly curious urge to look down.  
“What’s wrong?” You ask.  
Leon opens his mouth to answer when you both jolt as you hear sudden clanging sound from around the corner. Leon silently gestures for you to stay behind him as he walks slowly around the corner. You see him flinch as he shines his flashlight upwards. He looks down again, shining the light down the hall. After some inspection, he turns back to you.  
“I can’t see any movement,” He whispers. “But I’m just warning you, there’s a dead guy hanging from the ceiling just ahead.”  
You grimace. “Thanks for the warning.”  
You follow Leon around the corner and immediately see what he meant. Another officer’s body is suspended from the ceiling by a piece of metal which appears to have pierced through the back of his head and out his mouth. It feels like your stomach does a flip. You shudder, shaking your head.  
“Here,” Leon says quietly, stepping forwards to pick up an abandoned flashlight which is on the floor under the hanging officer. He places it in your hand. You shine it down the hall, testing the light. You nod in thanks.

You and Leon keep pushing forwards. You go through a doorway at the end of the hall. It leads to another hall lined with boarded up windows and caution tape. Beams of moonlight shine through the window at the end of the hall, reflecting on the shallow water on the floor. Thankfully there are no more grotesque bodies for now. You and Leon proceed down the hall. A sudden bang at the end window makes you jump out of your skin. You shine your flashlight out and see a female zombie pressing against it with bloody hands.  
“Let’s keep moving.” Leon mutters.  
The two of you round the corner. The end of the hall is blockaded, but you see red double doors along the right wall. Leon carefully pushes open one of the doors and looks inside with his flashlight, gun at the ready. He turns back to you and nods.  
“It’s clear.”  
You both step inside to what must have been some kind of meeting room. In the middle of the room is a table covered with files and maps. Behind it is a blackboard with documents stuck to it and what looks like a map of the station. Leon steps up to the blackboard and removes the map, folding it up.  
“This could be useful.” He says, shoving the folded up map into one of his pockets.  
On the blackboard where the map was, you see a list titled ‘Survivors’. All the names have been crossed out, with the word ‘Turned’ scribbled next to each one. Your heart feels heavy as you read each name. These would have been Leon’s colleagues. You look over to Leon, who you see is also looking at the list. His expression is blank but you see something in his eyes. Your heart aches for him. You can’t even imagine what he is going through.  
He approaches a door to the right of the blackboard. He sighs and you hear the jangle of metal.  
“The door’s chained shut.” He looks around the room, his eyes stopping as he gazes upwards.   
He points across the room. Following his direction, you see a stack of wooden pallets, and above it, a small window which has been broken.   
“Look like someone might have used that before.” He mutters, walking over to it.  
He steps up onto the pallets, standing on the tips of his toes to look through the window with his flashlight.  
“It looks clear,” He turns to face you. “But I can hear something from the other side, so I’ll go through first and check it out. Do you think you’ll be able to get yourself up when I come back?”  
You assess the height from the pallets to the window. It would require a lot of strength to pull yourself up that high, strength a lot of people who didn’t recently graduate from police academy wouldn’t usually possess. You look over to the table in the middle of the room. Chairs are scattered around it and more are piled against the wall. You take on of the chairs closest to you and carry it over to the pallets.  
“I think I could with a little help.”   
“Alright,” Leon nods. “See you in a minute.”  
He pulls himself through the window. You hear his boots hit the floor on the other side and his footsteps fade as he walks down what you presume is another hall. There’s not much noise at first, but then you hear a few groans and gunshots. It goes quiet again. You hate just standing around and waiting so you place the chair on top of the pallets and climb onto it, leaning your head out of the window. You’re looking down into another hallway, this one not as long as the rest. To the left the hallway is blockaded by another pile of furniture. To the right, you can’t see much except the glow of a drink machine near the end of the hall. You can’t see Leon or hear anything.  
“Shit,” You mutter to yourself.  
You hate this. You wish Leon had let you just come with him in the first place. You consider pulling yourself through the window to find him when you hear more muffled gunshots. Shortly after, you hear a door open and approaching footsteps as Leon comes into view.  
“Ok, it’s clear.” He says, beckoning you to come through.  
With your arms over the window frame, you pull yourself up and swing one leg over. You look down from the awkward and uncomfortable position you’re in, assessing the drop.  
“Um… could you maybe just… make sure I don’t fall on my ass?” You laugh awkwardly.  
“Sure.” Leon chuckles. He moves close to the wall under the window, his arms raised by his sides. “Get your other leg over and I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”  
You do as he says, swinging over your other leg. You attempt to gradually slide your weight over the edge of the window frame, but you slide too fast, your hand painfully gripping the window ledge.  
“Ow, shit!” You exclaim.  
You feel your grip failing and are about to fall when you feel arms wrap around your waist, breaking your fall. Leon carefully lowers you until your feet touch the ground, then removes his hands quickly.  
“Sorry,” He says quickly as you straighten up your shirt which had ridden up on the way down from the window.  
“It’s ok,” You laugh. “Thanks for the help.”  
He nods in response and turns down the hall.  
“I found a room which might have some useful supplies in it. There were a couple of zombies in there but I uh… sorted them out.” Leon leads you down the hall to the left, through a windowed door with that reads ‘West Office’. The room has a bunch of desks lined up down the middle and shelves filled with files along the walls. As you shine your light down the length of the room, you can see shiny streamers hanging from the ceiling and some kind of bunting draped from the ceiling. You make your way down the room along the desks. An open folder sits open on one of the desks, with a document inside.

‘It’s down to just me and 3 others. No weapons, no ammo… and too many skirmishes have drained us mentally and physically. We’re not gonna make it… Officer Phillips once suggested we escape through the sewers. Apparently there’s a secret tunnel under this place left over from its museum days. I brushed her idea off before, but now, it’s not sounding all that bad. Yeah, there’s no proof there’s even a tunnel or that the sewers aren’t infested with zombies, but I don’t wanna sit here and wait to die either. It’s a long shot, but I’m gonna try to find out what I can do about that tunnel.  
Elliot Edward.’

“Hey Leon, did you see this?” You gesture to the document.  
Leon comes to your side and glances over the document. “I heard this station used to be a museum… this is written by Elliot?”  
Leon picks up the paper and flips it over, seemingly inspecting the back for any more information. He pulls out the journal from his hip pouch.  
“I haven’t had a proper look in here yet, but from what I’ve seen, it seems like he was onto something with the whole tunnel idea.”  
“Well,” You sigh. “I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. If the sewers are the only way to get out of the city, I guess that’s where we’ve gotta go.”  
Leon flicks through the journal before returning it to the pouch. He continues to look around the office, inspecting each desk. He stops at the desk at the end, staring at it for a few moments, his expression blank. You join him and look at the place where his eyes are fixed. A nameplate sits on the desk which reads ‘Leon Kennedy’. As you shine your flashlight forward, the light catches one of the streamers. You look up, now seeing the bunting from the correct side, you see the letters spell ‘Welcome Leon’. You feel heaviness in your chest at the sight, thinking about what could have been; what was meant to be. You glance over at Leon, whose eyes are now fixed on the banner too.  
“I’m so sorry Leon.” You say quietly.  
He tears his eyes away from the banner, shaking his head. “I should have come here sooner. I should have come as soon as I got the call. I could have… done something.”  
“Leon,” You place a hand on his shoulder. “Listen to me. None of this is your fault.”  
Leon’s gaze remains cast down.  
“Leon,” You say again, a little louder this time.  
His eyes flick up to you, meeting yours.  
“If you had come here sooner, you would have been right in the middle of this mess. You’d probably be either dead or turned. This outbreak took everyone by surprise. There was no way they could have been prepared for it.”  
Leon leans over the desk, his arms outstretched to the sides. He runs a finger along his nameplate, his face cast down. You just look at him still, not sure what else to say, or if you had perhaps sounded too harsh. You see a drop fall and land on the desk under Leon’s obscured face.  
“Leon,” You say carefully. You don’t want to embarrass him. “I’m sorry…”  
You see another tear fall as his back shakes. You put an arm around his back, not sure how to comfort him, when he turns, not quite looking at you. His eyes glisten from the reflection on the flashlights.  
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this…” His voice shakes.  
You don’t know where the urge comes from, but it seems like the right thing to do when you grab his arm and gently pull him towards you. He takes his hands of the desk and faces you, his shoulders slumped. You pull him into you and hold him, your arms around his shoulders. You hold him tight against you, feeling his shuddering breaths. Moments later you feel his arms wrap around your waist. He holds you just as tight, if not tighter, like he desperately needs to feel someone there with him. Your eyes become hot and you feel tears threatening to spill over. You blink hard to force them out. You don’t want Leon to see you like that now. You need to be strong for him.  
You don’t know how long the two of you stay like that. Thirty seconds? A minute? But Leon is the one to loosen his grip. He steps back, turning his face away, but you can see that his cheeks are flushed. You look away as not to embarrass him, awkwardly standing with your hands in your pockets.  
“I’m… sorry about that.” Leon says quietly.  
You look back at him, his gaze still focusing away from you. “There’s no need to be sorry Leon. Please don’t be embarrassed. You know… I think I kinda needed that too…” You laugh awkwardly.  
Leon looks up, meeting your gaze at last, his expression still solemn. “You don’t think I’m… a coward?”  
“What? No! Leon, you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met, and that’s the absolute truth!” You look at him, your eyes pleading that he’ll believe you. “We are going to get through this, Leon; me and you.”  
Leon cracks a smile.  
“What?” You ask, confused at his sudden change of demeanour.  
“Have you got a side job as a motivational speaker? Because the way you say things sometimes… I’m inclined to believe you.”  
You blush, a smile creeping up on you. “I’m definitely cut out for that job, so no. But you should believe me because I’m right.” You grin.  
Of course you’ve had your doubts all night; thoughts of all the possible things that could happen running through your mind. But right now, Leon needs you to be strong. He needs someone to believe in him and that someone right now is you. The truth is, somehow being stuck with this rookie cop makes you feel safer; like you’ve got a chance.


End file.
